The Art of Belonging : Social integration of young migrants in urban contexts through cultural placemaking
McIntyre, Joanna ; Neuhaus, Sinikka LU and Blennow, Katarina LU
(2023)
- Abstract
- Since the start of 2022, 100 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in distant countries. This number reflects the increased displacement within Europe following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but also highlights the ongoing nature of forced migration as people from across the world need to seek asylum and refugee often moving across perilous land and sea routes into Europe. Almost half of the world’s forced migrants are children under the age of 18. Those vulnerable children and young people who arrive in the United Kingdom tend to be dispersed to cities
and large towns in urban areas. In Sweden, towns and urban areas also have become the main resettlement context for forced... (More) - Since the start of 2022, 100 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in distant countries. This number reflects the increased displacement within Europe following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but also highlights the ongoing nature of forced migration as people from across the world need to seek asylum and refugee often moving across perilous land and sea routes into Europe. Almost half of the world’s forced migrants are children under the age of 18. Those vulnerable children and young people who arrive in the United Kingdom tend to be dispersed to cities
and large towns in urban areas. In Sweden, towns and urban areas also have become the main resettlement context for forced migrants.
Even if there is legal support for access to the asylum-seeking process and education for young migrants there is a need for supporting the process of belonging in a robust and long-term way.
Young, often unaccompanied, forced migrants arrive in our cities in the hope of a better life but find themselves at risk of higher rates of poor mental health, isolation, exploitation and in extreme cases of human trafficking. If young new arrivals are perceived as bringing little of value to receiving societies, there is also a risk of community tensions. There is a pressing need for policies supporting the social inclusion of young, forced migrants into our societies. The Art of Belonging report is drawn from qualitative research of a planned programme of cultural citizenship for young new arrivals.
The report describes the development and implementation of arts and cultural programmes aimed at new arrivals in our case study cities, Nottingham and Lund. We found that there is a distinctive signature pedagogy underpinning the ways in which artists work successfully with young new arrivals who face
considerable challenges as they try to learn to adapt to life in their new context. We also found that much of the existing support for new arrivals in our cities is dependent upon a network of often unseen and unrecognised connections within our communities. Members of the public were overwhelmingly positive about the potential attributes and contributions of young new arrivals when they were given the opportunity meet and engage with them in their visits to cultural venues in the city and in the final public exhibitions.
We conclude that the cost-effective programme reduced social isolation, increased positive mental health, and broke down barriers between new arrivals and their host communities. We report the often unheard voices of young, forced migrants, and highlight the policy implications of the research findings. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c2425e91-5b4f-4721-9f47-e06a23d59706
- author
- McIntyre, Joanna
; Neuhaus, Sinikka
LU
and Blennow, Katarina
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- refugee education, belonging, art
- pages
- 60 pages
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c2425e91-5b4f-4721-9f47-e06a23d59706
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-01 14:38:02
- date last changed
- 2024-02-05 08:12:43
@techreport{c2425e91-5b4f-4721-9f47-e06a23d59706,
abstract = {{Since the start of 2022, 100 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in distant countries. This number reflects the increased displacement within Europe following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but also highlights the ongoing nature of forced migration as people from across the world need to seek asylum and refugee often moving across perilous land and sea routes into Europe. Almost half of the world’s forced migrants are children under the age of 18. Those vulnerable children and young people who arrive in the United Kingdom tend to be dispersed to cities<br/>and large towns in urban areas. In Sweden, towns and urban areas also have become the main resettlement context for forced migrants.<br/>Even if there is legal support for access to the asylum-seeking process and education for young migrants there is a need for supporting the process of belonging in a robust and long-term way.<br/>Young, often unaccompanied, forced migrants arrive in our cities in the hope of a better life but find themselves at risk of higher rates of poor mental health, isolation, exploitation and in extreme cases of human trafficking. If young new arrivals are perceived as bringing little of value to receiving societies, there is also a risk of community tensions. There is a pressing need for policies supporting the social inclusion of young, forced migrants into our societies. The Art of Belonging report is drawn from qualitative research of a planned programme of cultural citizenship for young new arrivals.<br/>The report describes the development and implementation of arts and cultural programmes aimed at new arrivals in our case study cities, Nottingham and Lund. We found that there is a distinctive signature pedagogy underpinning the ways in which artists work successfully with young new arrivals who face<br/>considerable challenges as they try to learn to adapt to life in their new context. We also found that much of the existing support for new arrivals in our cities is dependent upon a network of often unseen and unrecognised connections within our communities. Members of the public were overwhelmingly positive about the potential attributes and contributions of young new arrivals when they were given the opportunity meet and engage with them in their visits to cultural venues in the city and in the final public exhibitions.<br/>We conclude that the cost-effective programme reduced social isolation, increased positive mental health, and broke down barriers between new arrivals and their host communities. We report the often unheard voices of young, forced migrants, and highlight the policy implications of the research findings.}},
author = {{McIntyre, Joanna and Neuhaus, Sinikka and Blennow, Katarina}},
keywords = {{refugee education; belonging; art}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{The Art of Belonging : Social integration of young migrants in urban contexts through cultural placemaking}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/170600666/art-of-belonging.pdf}},
year = {{2023}},
}